No. 4.] MILK. 29 



sides and ceiling in no better condition, cobwebs and dust 

 hanging? You cannot properly whitewash these stables. 

 It makes the stable much lighter and sweeter, and serves as 

 a disinfectant. Dry lime sprinkled in stables serves as a 



deodorizer. 



Feeding. 



A cow may inherit the best of constitutions and milking 

 capabilities, but the value of these depends on the conditions 

 under which she exists. Not only is it impossible for her 

 to make something out of nothing, but her profit at the pail 

 will be in proportion to the judgment exercised by her 

 owner in those matters which directly affect her yield of the 

 day or the season. Knowledge and care in feeding nuist 

 accompany skill in breeding, or the latter will be of little 

 service. A very large proportion of the food of the cow is 

 errown on the farm, and of this aiiain no small share is con- 

 sumed in the growing .state, or as green fodder, hay or 

 silage. It is very essential to have clean pastures. The 

 true grasses and leguminous plants may cause changes in 

 milk quality by their many mixtures, proportions and 

 growth, but they will not interfere with the dairy processes 

 or give to the products ill (jualities ; but man}^ plants which 

 we may call Aveeds include some which are dangerous to the 

 health of the cow ; others, more numerous, which flavor 

 milk undesirably and are the cause of much mischief. The 

 question may be asked. Do cows eat any appreciable pro- 

 portion of such plants? The occasions known may be few 

 in which the mischief is recognized and traced to some par- 

 ticular plant, but such do occur often enough to make the 

 matter one of great importance ; and I believe that a very 

 consideraiile amount of harm is done daily by such weeds 

 as are incapable of giving a distinctly bad flavor to milk, but 

 in these many kinds combined to give one generally infe- 

 rior. If a weed is a pest in the corn field, it is a nmch 

 greater one in pastures, where it not only takes the place of 

 a better plant, and hinders the superior growth around it, 

 but actually does direct damage to the dairy goods. Weeds 

 are f he natural and almost inevitable consequence of neglect. 

 There are few pastures which can keep sweet and free from 



